FIFA Council approves open vote for 2026 World Cup

The FIFA Council has approved the voting regulations for the 2026 World Cup, which includes an open ballot, president Gianni Infantino has confirmed.

On June 13, the FIFA Congress will convene to vote on the host of football’s showpiece event, with Morocco and a joint North American venture between the United States, Canada and Mexico the only bids in play.

Scrutiny over the 2010 vote that awarded this year’s staging of the event and the 2022 tournament to Russia and Qatar respectively led to the FIFA corruption scandal and, ultimately, the ousting of long-term president Sepp Blatter.

The ramifications of that episode are still being felt by football’s world governing body, and in an attempt to make the process more transparent the bidding regulations, published in November 2017, stated that there will be an open vote.

And Infantino confirmed that the FIFA Council has approved the decision, meaning the 207 national federations out of 211 eligible to vote, with the bidding nations excluded, will have the result of their ballot published.

“We talked about the bidding process for the World Cup in 2026 in which the FIFA Congress in Moscow on 13th June will make a decision,” he told a news conference in Bogota. 

“Today we approved the voting regulations that would lead to that decision.

“There are no other bids, only those two bids, and today the Council looked at different timelines and stages and what’s going to be done in the coming weeks and in the end we adopted and approved the regulations on the governing for voting at Congress. 

“It will be an open vote at the Congress with publication of the votes immediately after the vote of the Congress, with majorities and stuff, all the details.”

Before the vote can take place, a FIFA taskforce will inspect the bids to make sure they meet relevant criteria.

Infantino added: “We have two bids in play, one is a joint bid involving Canada, USA and Mexico, the second bid is Morocco. 

“Today, these two bids presented their bid book with all the specifics of their candidacy.

“They will be studied thoroughly through a taskforce, we’ll evaluate the bids, visit venues, and decide if these two bids live up to minimum requirements.

“If they are eligible they will be taken to Congress where a decision will be made.”